Blank-feeding mechanism



FeB. 2 1926.

. 1,571,486 B. H. LONG ET AL BLANK FEEDING Kscmmrsu Original Filed Oct. 26, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventors JenJaminHLon fiheir Attorngy.

Feb. 2 1926.

B. H. LONG ET AL BLANK FEEDING MECHANISM Invento r w n r H M Z m yum Feb. 2, 1926.

B. H. LONG ET AL BLANK FEEDING MECHANiSM Original Filed Oct. 26, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jfivent Jenflwnin, 1K Lon an?! S60 *fizeir .Attorngy.

Patented Feb. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

BENJAMIN H. LONG, 01? BROOKLYN, NEVJ YORK, AND WILBUR lvI; STONE, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOBS TO AMERICAN BANDER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPOBATEON OF WISCONSIN.

BLANK-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Application filed October 26, 1922, Serial No. 596,994. Renewed July 14, 1925.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BENJAMIN I-I. LONG and XVILBUR M. STONE, citizens of the United States, and residing, respectively, at New York, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, and at East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New new and useful Improvements in Blank- Feeding llilechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to blank feeding mechanism and particularly to mechanisms of the character specified wherein blanks of irregular contour are delivered one at a time from a container to predetermined position on a platen or the like. The present GHIlJOCllIIlGDi] of our improven'icnts is illustrated as adapted for feeding cigar bands from a containing hopper to a receiving station for the bands. The object of our improvements is to provide a mechanism of the character specified of high efficiency and accuracy in operation, of adaptability to various sizes and contours of blanks or hands, and including simple means for adjusting the several parts of the mechanism to meet varying requiren'ients.

To these ends our in'iprovements comprise features illustrated in their preferred embodiment in the drawings accompanying this specification, wherein Figure l is a front elevation of our improved feeding mechanism. Fig. 2 is an end elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2 of Fig. 1 and with parts thereof broken away to show some features more clearly. F 3 is an end elevation similar to that of Fig. 2 showing a further step in the operation of the mechanism. Fig. 4t is a fragmentary end elevation similar to a portion of Figs. 2 and 3 and illustrating a still further step in the operation. Fig. 5 is an end elevation similar to those of Figs. 2 and 3 and illustrating a later step in the operation. Fig. 6 is an end elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2 of Fig. 1 and showing parts omitted from Figs. 2, 3 and 5. Fig. 7 is a plan view of a detail of the mechanism. Fig. 8 is a section on line 8. 8 of Fig. 3, showing adjusting means. Fig. 9 is a sec tion on line 9, 9 of Fig. 8. Fign'lO is a section substantially on line 10, it) .of

Jersey, have invented certain 6. All the figures of the drawings are to one scale. i

- The present invention is in the nature of improvements uponthe blank feeding mechanism shown in Letters Patent No. 1,333,340, granted on the invention of Richard Raddatz; March 9, 1920, and'on similar blank feeding mechanism shown in the co-pending application of Byron Ledercr, Serial Number 411,785, filed September 21, 1920.

Blank supporting hopper H is adapted for containing a plurality of blanks such as cigar bands, arranged in a vertical stack with the lower end of the stack curved, so as to present the lowermost band in approximately vertical position. Said hopper is adapted and actuated for movement, whereby its lower or delivery end 3 may be advanced toward and retracted from section platen 4 for the delivery, oneat a time, of

said bands onto said platen. For convenience to that end, said hopper H is preferably pivotally mounted at 12 in a line parallel with and well above its lower-end 3. Said pivot 12 is also located some distance to the right, Fig. 3, from the upper end 5 of said hopper. This arrangement,- while providing for the necessary to and fro movement of the lower end ofthe hopper,

secures a minimum horizontal movement of the upper end thereof, whereby additional bands may be conveniently inserted inthe upper end of the hopper while the mechanism is in operation. The slight vertical movement of the upper end of the hopper will not interfere with such introduction of additional bands to the hopper.

Said hopper-Til comprises two main side frames 6 and 7, each having arms, as 80' and of frame 6, terminating in hollow hubs 11, 11, respectively, adapted for sliding horizontally on pivot shaft 12. That portion of said pivot shaft on which said hubs slide is preferably square in crosssection and the openings through said hubs correspond with said square cross-section of said shaft 12. The right hand portion, Fig. 1, of said shaft 12 is cylindrical and is mounted for oscillation in. the upper end of supportingstand 13, To said cylindrical portion of shaft 12 is adjustably arm 14, the outer end of which is connected by link with lever 16 below table and to the upper side of which table stand 13 maybe secured. Said lever 16 is pivotably supported on fixed rod 18, and cam roll 19 is pivoted to the opposite end of said "lever. Below said lever 16, shaft 20, rotating in bearings of known character, not shown, has fixed thereto cam 21 for engagement with roll 19. Spring 22 is efficient for maintaining roll 19in engagement with cam 21. Said side frames 6 and '7 terminate downwardly at the delivery end?) hopper and each has an' inreaching .adjustableclip 50, adapted for engagingthe opposite ends of the lowermost band or blank in said hopper and thereby sustaining the stack of bandsS. Each of side frames 6 and 7 is provided with front and back walls, as front wall 23 and back wall 24 of frame 6. These walls are adjustably fixed to said frame by screws, as 25 of back wall 24,-engaging slots, as 26- in said frame, so that said walls may be moved to and from each other to accommodate different widths of blanks or bands. The rear walls, as 24, terminate downwardly, as at 24 to wall 24, Fig.2, some distance from the delivery end 3 of said hopper and the front walls, as 23, terminate at 23. Said walls are supplemented at their lower ends, respectively, by adjustabledelivery guides, as 28, 29 to sideframe 6, and by which said bands are guided todelivery position. Said guides, as 28, 29,will be described more in detail later herein. Side frames 6 and Tare ad justable toward and from each other along shaft 12 by means of small shaft 30 having right and left hand threaded portions 31, 32 in engagement with nuts. 33, 3-it,'integral with said frame hubs 11, 11, respectively. Said small shaft may be rotated by knurled head 35 fixed to the left hand end thereof, Fig. 1. Also said side frames, their nuts, and adjusting shaft 80, may be adjusted endwise shaft 12 as a unit by rotating small shaft 36, having knurled head 37 fixed to the left hand end thereof. Said shaft 36 is mounted for rotation inthe left hand end of shaft 12-and is constrained against endwise movement by head 37 and collar 38; A portion of said shaft 86 is in threaded engagement with a block or nut '39, and in another portionof said nut small shaft 30 is mounted for rotation but constrained against endwise movement relatively thereto.

Reverting'now to the adjustable guides at the lower ends of side frames 6 and 7, respectively, a description of guides 28, 29 of side frame 6 will suffice for all. Said guides are essentially prolongations of walls 23, 24, respectively, andin the front viewof Fig.- 1 stand directly in front of said walls. Said guides28, 29 are provided with nut members 48,49, respectively, in threaded engagement with opgositaleft and right of said justing screw 42 is constrained against end wise movement collar 45 fixed thereto, in engagement with the opposite walls of a transverse slot inidway the length of sleeve '43, andsaid screw may be rotated by means of knurled head 46 fixed to the lower end thereof. By this means guides 28, 29 may be-moved in, parallelism and' in unison toward and fromeach other, and the delivery ends of said guides thereby remain always at equal distances from the horizontal center plan'eof platen 4, whereby bands carried between said guides, no matter what their width, may beaccurately centered vertically, relatively to platen 4, onto which they'are delivered. Guides 28, 29 are provided at their delivery ends with small clips 27,47, respectively, Fig. 1, inreaching toward each other for engaging the edges of the lowermost band of stack S. Said clips'are in substantially the same plane,Figs. 3and 4, as clips 50, 50 of side frames 6 and'7, as all of said'elips are designed for enga ing, the outward face of the lowermost band of said stack.

Suction head 52 carries platen 4 and is in turn supported by post 53. Said head andpost are tubular and are employed as a conduit for exhausting the air fron'i platen 4 as desired, from some sourceof exhaust, not shown,-connecting pipe 51: projecting downwardly through table 17 from post 53.

For separating the lowermost band from the others of its kind in stack S after the lower end of said stack has been presented against platen 4, means similar in function to the means, of Lederer supra are employed, but-the construction and operation of the means of the present invention are materially different from those of L'edorer. Narrow blades or lingers 55, 56 are carried by swinging frame 57 pivoted on stud 58 supported in post 53 upstanding from. table 1.7. vFinger 56lis fixed to the right hand end of small shaft 59,.Figs. 1 and 6, and the other end of said shaft carries adjustably fixed thereto cam arm 60. Finger is bifurcated, its ends lying on opposite sides of finger 56, Fig. 1. Said bifurcatod finger 55 is fixed to the right hand end of tubular shaft 62, surrounding shaft 59, and the other end of said tubular shaft carries adjustably fixed thereto cam arm 61 Said tubular shaft is rotatably mounted in opposite bearings 83, 83in frame 57. Said arms 60, 61 may havepivotallymounted 1 on their lower endsrolls 68, 63 for engagement with opposite edges,respectively, of cam' 64 fixed to 'cam parrier 67. Said cam carrier is pivotally-mounted on stud f8 be tween the hub of frame 57 "and post .53, see

Ill!

Fig. 10. Said rolls 68, 63 are urged to engagement with cam 64 by spring 65 between the upstanding ends of arms 60, 61. Swinging frame 57 has arm 66 outstanding to the left from its hub, Fig. 1', see also Fig. 10, and cam carrier 67 has similar arm 68 extending downwardly there-from. Pivoted in the ends, respectively, of said arms 66, 68 are swivel blocks 69, 70, to the first of which is fixed rod 71 and through the second of which said rod is slidable. About said rod 71 is spring 72 adapted for urging said arms 66, 68 apart. Collar 73, fixed to rod 71 below swivel block 70, is effective for limiting the separation of the free ends of arms 66, 68. Arm '74 projects to the left, Fig. A 1, from cam carrier 67 and, through coup-ling 75, link 76 and coupling 77, is connected to the free end of cam lever 78. Said cam lever is pivoted on fixed rod 18, Fig. 6, and carries cam roll 79 in engagement with cam 81 fixed to cam shaft 20. Stop screw 82, in threaded engagement with the arm of frame 57 is eiiicient for limiting the downward movement of said frame by abutting against the top of post 53.

The operation of our improved mechanism is as follows: Hopper H being supplied with blanks or cigar bands, such for instance as shown in dot and dash outline at B, F igzi), shaft 30 is rotated to adjust frames 6 and 7 toward or from each other an amoiuit con'imensurate with the length of band used. Also shaft 36 is rotated, if need be, to shift the bands and the hopper as a whole, in the direction of the bands length, to suitably locate the lowermost band relatively to platen 4;. Also screws 42, 42 are rotated to bring the delivery ends of guides 28, 29 into engagement with the bands there-between, whereby those bands are centered vertically relatively to platen 4. Cam shaft 20 is now rotated in the clirection of the arrow of Fig. 2 and which rotation, through the levers and links connecting roll 19 with hopper shaft 12 will cause hopper H to oscillate to and fro. W hen said hopper oscillates to the right to the position of Fig. 2 it will deliver the stack of bands against platen 4. At the same instant the air is exhausted from said platen, whereby the midportion of the foremost band is caused to adhere. by atmospheric pressure to said platen. Thereupon said hopper withdraws to the left a short distance, just enough to slightly separate the midportion of the band from the next band in the hopper, but not enough to withdraw the ends of the band from the holding clips. In Fig. 2 blades 55, 56 are shown poised above the delivery end of hopper H and the lower ends of said blades lie in one plane just to the ieft of the plane of the platen. This position of blades .55, .56 cor responds with their dot and dash position of Fig. 1. Coincident with the movement ofv the hopper from the position of Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 3, frame 57 swings downwardly from the dotted position of Fig. 1 to the full line posit-ion of that figure, thereby projecting fingers 55, 56 between the midportion of the band held by platen 4 and the remainder of the stack of bands, see Fig. 3.

Fingers 55, 56 thereupon separate, finger 56 moving slightly to the right, clamping band B against platen 4 and. finger 55 moving slightly to the left, pressing back the stack of bands in the hopper, see Fig. 4. Hopper 11 then continues its movement to the left and finger 55 follows that movement to the position of Fig. 5. During this movement from the position of Fig. 4: to

that of Fig. 5 the ends of band B are freed from engagement with the hopper clips.

Directing attention now to Figs. 1 and 6, frame 57 is shown as having reached the lower end of its movement, with stop screw 82 against post 53. Upon the further rotation of cam 81, cam carrier 67 will be further rotated in clockwise direction, but as said frame 57 can go no further, spring 72 will be compressed and arm 68 will move toward arm 66. This further rotation of cam carrier 67 will force cam 64 between rolls 63, 63, thereby causing the movements of lingers 55, 56, already described.v The positions of the parts in Fig. 7 correspond with the positions, respectively, of the fingers in Fig. 4:. After point Sl -of cam 81 engages roll 79, lingers 55, 56 retract to ward each. other from the position of F 5 and, after coming into coincidence as viewed in Fig. 3, are lifted to the position of Fig. 2 and the dotted position of Fig. 1, ready to repeat their operation when the hopper again delivers its foremost band against platen l; Prior to such succeeding delivery of a band against platen l, the band already delivered there is removed by means not shown, and not pertinent to the present case. I

lVe claim:

1. i In blank feeding mechanism the combi nation of a blank hopper having an upwardly opening receiving end and a substantially horizontal delivery end, said hopper comprising opposite end frames each having frontand back wallsadjustably mounted thereon, said hopper end frames being carried on a shaft oscillatable in a fixed bearing above the deli very end of said. hopper, a fixed platen for receiving the blanks one at a time from said hopper, and means for oscillating said hopper shaft for moving said delivery end toward and from said platen.

2. In blank feeding mechanism the com bination of a blank hop-per comprising opposite end frames each having front and back mills adjustably mounted thereomsaid hopper end f 'ames being carried on a shaft oscillatable in a fixed-bearing above the delivery end of by said hopper frames relatively to each other and synchronously relatively to a point therebetween, and means for adjusting said hopper as a whole lengthwise its shaftwithout disturbing the adjusted relation of the end frames thereof.

3. In a blank feeding mechanism the combination of a blank hopper comprising opposite' end frames each having front and back walls adjustably mounted thereon, said hopper end frames being carried on a shaft oscillatable in a fixed bearing above thedelivery end of said hopper, means'comprising a shaft having screw threaded portions, similarly threaded portions of said ment with said 'screwthreaded portions of said shaft respectively for adjusting said end frames relatively to each other and synchronously relatively to a point therebetween, and means for adjusting said hopper as a whole lengthwise its shaft without disturbing the adjusted relation of the end frames thereof.

4. In blank feeding mechanism the com-' bination of a blank hopper comprising opposite end frames each having frontand back walls adjustably mounted thereon,'said hopper end frames being carried on a shaft oscillatable in a fixed bearing above the deliver) end of said hopper, means comprising a shaft having right and left hand screw threaded portions, similarly threaded portions of said side frames in engagement with said screw threaded portions of said shaft respectively for adjustin'gsaid end frames relatively to each other and synchronously relatively to a point therebetween, and' means comprising a screw threaded shaft and a block in which said right and left hand threaded shaft is rotatably mounted hut constrained againstendwise movement therein, said block being in threaded engagement with said screw threaded shaft for adjusting said hopper-as a whole lengthwise said'hopper shaft without disturbing the adjusted relation ofthe end frames thereof.

In blank feeding mechanism the combination of a blank hopper comprising opposite end frames each having frontand back walls ad ustably mounted thereon, opposite blank delivery guides carried byeach end said hopper, means carriedshaft for ad usting said end" right and left hand side frames in engage-' frame, said guides being mounted for movement toward-and -from each other, and

meansfo-r thus 'moving said guides while 'maintainingtheir delivery ends always equ1- distant from a point therebetween'.

6. In blank feeding mechanism the combination of a blank hopper comprising opposite end f'rames each" having front-and back walls adjustably' mounted thereon, op-

posite' blank delivery guides mounted in eachend frame for movement in parallel-' ism,and means for thus moving said guides while maintaining their: delivery ends al-' ways equidistant from a point therebetween.

7. In blank feedingrmechanism'the'combination of a blankhopper comprising o-p-r posite end frames each having front and back all's adjust-ably mounted-thereon, opposite blank delivery guides carried by each end frame,"said guides being mounted for movement toward and from each other,

- and right and left hand screw and nut means forthus moving saidguides while maintaining their delivery ends always equidistant from a point therebetween'.

8. In blank feeding mechanism the combination of a blank hopper, a fixed platen for receiving the'blanks one at a' time from carrier for oscillating said frame and cam carrier as a' unit atonetim'e and'for oscil lating said cam carrier only at another time against theresista'nc'e'of said spring, wheredownwardly about the'fixed axis of said frame and the fingersthereafter swung away from each other about their common aXi S'.

In witness whereof, "we'hereby affix our signatures this 25th day of October, 1922.

BENJAlMfINv H; LONG. \VILBUIR' h IFSTON'EL carrier, and means connected with said 'cam 

